#178

It was 1 AM. Lee Seok-doo woke up to a call from Director Choi Dong-jik.

“We missed him.”

As soon as Lee Seok-doo heard those words from Choi, he grabbed the ashtray on the bedside table and threw it. The ashtray flew in an arc, hit the closet, and shattered on the floor.

“Get ready. I’m going there.”

“Yes, Chairman.”

Director Choi answered sharply and hung up.

Tsk, tsk. Lee Seok-doo clicked his tongue with a displeased expression and got out of bed.

“A hair’s breadth.”

Lee Seok-doo hated that phrase. Two years ago, after drifting apart from Chairman Han of Hankook Construction and losing the redevelopment project rights to Dongbang Construction, the directors had excused themselves by saying it was a hair’s breadth.

A few days ago, when his son had a traffic accident, they comforted Lee Seok-doo by saying he narrowly avoided a major accident by a hair’s breadth. They called it a stroke of luck for his son, who had a broken nose, a fractured cheekbone, two broken ribs, and both knees wrecked.

“Stroke of luck, my ass.”

Lee Seok-doo muttered to himself, something he rarely did, and walked to the bathroom. A shard of the ashtray crunched under his slipper.

He had him. He was sure he had him. Thanks to the detective Oh Dae-ho, not just his own men, he was able to take care of Jeong Jae-jin. Catching Lee Seon-jae was a given, but he figured he might as well kill two birds with one stone.

Of course, he could meet Jeong Jae-jin anywhere—the prosecutor’s office, the police station, in front of his house, at his usual supermarket or restaurant—but the meeting Lee Seok-doo wanted wasn’t official.

Jeong Jae-jin was the one who had secretly smuggled Lee Seon-jae away, and he was the one threatening Il-gwang. He wanted to rip out the silver tongue that had won over Lee Seon-jae, who wouldn’t budge for any sweet talk. But Jeong Jae-jin was guarded by more than one person and was so cautious that he couldn’t even dare to approach him.

But Jeong Jae-jin was moving alone, secretly. Oh Dae-ho knew where Jeong Jae-jin parked his private car, the one he didn’t tell anyone about. That day he came to see him, he spoke of other things to avoid being bugged, but with his hand, he wrote down the location where Jeong Jae-jin’s private car was parked. Neither Lee Seok-doo nor Oh Dae-ho knew that Jeong Jae-jin would use that car the very day they found out the location.

“Now that’s what you call a stroke of luck.”

Just in case, Jeong Jae-jin answered the phone he used for operations, and from then on, everything went smoothly.

Thanks to Kang Dae-seong, Director Choi’s right-hand man, moving very smartly, they got right up to Jeong Jae-jin’s nose and almost caught a man named Yoon Ki-beom as well.

He was definitely there. In that hospital hallway.

“A hair’s breadth, you say.”

He hadn’t completely missed him yet. Kang Dae-seong was still chasing Jeong Jae-jin and Yoon Ki-beom. Although he was behind, he was gradually closing the gap between them.

“I’ll see it with my own eyes.”

Lee Seok-doo vowed to remember Jeong Jae-jin caught in Il-gwang’s net every time he uttered the words “a hair’s breadth” as he left the house.

Director Choi and his bodyguards, including the two hulks guarding Lee Seok-doo, were waiting in front of the entrance. Except for them, not a single member of Lee Seok-doo’s organization remained around him. He had sent them all out, whether they were useful or not.

Frankly, it was hard to see it as a winning game yet. While Kang Dae-seong was chasing Jeong Jae-jin, eight of Lee Seok-doo’s men were chasing the Korando. They thought they were catching Lee Seon-jae and Jeong Jae-jin at the same time, but instead, the eight chasing the Korando were played by the police. They happened to be the detectives in charge of organized crime, and none of the eight were without suspicion, so they were forcibly taken into custody. Needless to say, they didn’t even see Lee Seon-jae’s face.

“Where are they?”

Lee Seok-doo asked as he got into the car prepared by Director Choi.

“They’re heading towards Cheongyang.”

“Step on it.”

“Yes, Chairman!”

The hulk behind the wheel shouted loudly. At the same time, the car roared and started to move.

Director Choi reported the situation as if he had been waiting for it. The place where they almost caught Jeong Jae-jin was the emergency room of a university hospital in Iksan.

“Yoon Ki-beom was injured in the arm and was undergoing surgery.”

“Jeong Jae-jin carried a man who was undergoing surgery and ran?”

“Yes.”

Lee Seok-doo frowned.

“What did they take?”

“They took a taxi.”

“And?”

“They switched to an ambulance on the way.”

“Where did it come from?”

“I don’t think he came alone.”

He clicked his tongue at the words that he wasn’t alone.

He was sure he was moving alone, but it seemed that wasn’t the case either.

“How many are with him?”

“That, well. I’m sorry.”

“What about Lee Seon-jae?”

“It seems he parted ways with Yoon Ki-beom in Asan.”

“It seems, it seems. What exactly is certain?”

Lee Seok-doo snapped.

In the first place, Jeong Jae-jin was headed for Gimje. It seemed he was trying to meet Yoon Ki-beom at the Gimje Intercity Bus Terminal.

Why Gimje of all places? No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t understand.

There was no reason for Jeong Jae-jin, let alone Lee Seon-jae, to go to Gimje. So he investigated Yoon Ki-beom. But even after searching all of the country bumpkin’s relatives, there was no one on the Gimje side. The same was true even when he expanded the scope to nearby areas. He wondered if he had ever even been to Jeolla-do.

If so, Gimje was likely just a passing place. He must have been in constant contact with Jeong Jae-jin, so it wouldn’t have been difficult to meet there.

Gimje, huh.

“What about the Incheon guys?”

As soon as he heard the word Incheon, he saw Director Choi narrow his brows. He was probably feeling proud. Lee Seok-doo liked that about Director Choi. The other men who had risen to the position of director were only worried about their own pockets, but Director Choi was different. He still had the pride and self-esteem of an active member.

“They’re tracking Lee Seon-jae’s whereabouts.”

“Where?”

“Asan.”

“You’re late to the party.”

Lee Seok-doo sneered, and Director Choi’s expression brightened.

“If we catch Yoon Ki-beom, Lee Seon-jae will be next. Please wait a little longer, Chairman.”

“You better.”

He had to catch them.

Lee Seok-doo still couldn’t believe the story he had heard from Oh Dae-ho. No, he couldn’t believe it.

He was confident that he knew everything about Lee Seon-jae, down to the dirt on his toes. But Lee Seon-jae was fucking a guy? That was impossible. He thought the detective in front of him was blinded by money and was telling all sorts of lies. Until he presented the evidence, no, even after seeing it, he doubted if it was real.

Lee Seon-jae was a guy who had always shown all sorts of dislike to the men who tried to get to him. The usually smooth-talking bastard was as cold as a knife at those times. He even embarrassed Lee Seok-doo by doing so to VIPs, and he didn’t even hesitate to use violence, so the aftermath was always a headache.

That guy sucked cock. And the cock of a country bumpkin, a cripple’s cock.

Of course, he didn’t know if he sucked or was sucked, if he fucked or was fucked, but it was certain that Lee Seon-jae and Yoon Ki-beom were doing that kind of thing.

Tsk. Lee Seok-doo clicked his tongue again. Then he leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes.

“Director Choi, get some sleep too.”

“Yes, Chairman.”

To do great things, one had to conserve their energy. Sleep was the best medicine.

The guy in the passenger seat turned on the radio. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, Lee Seok-doo’s favorite, began to play.

First movement, Allegro con brio. Boldly and quickly.

Lee Seok-doo first heard this famous symphony, which even passing children would have heard, thanks to his wife. His wife, who had chosen this song for him, thinking it would be the most familiar to him, and had taken him to theater, had never pretended to know anything and had told him about theater etiquette and the story behind the song.

In the meantime, the orchestra members came out one by one with their instruments, and when the conductor bowed, thunderous applause erupted. The moment the conductor turned his back, theater became as quiet as a mouse. The lights dimmed, and after a while, the all-too-familiar first bars echoed throughout theater.

It was on a different level than what he had heard on the radio. He felt goosebumps all over his body, and tears welled up in his eyes without him realizing it. He held his wife’s hand tightly.

Lee Seok-doo could still not forget that experience.

My wife. My small and beautiful other half. The woman who never loved this Lee Seok-doo. A spiteful woman, but one he could not let go of nonetheless. The woman who cherished Lee Seon-jae more than her own blood was especially missed today.

They fought terribly. They hated each other, loathed each other, and hurled all sorts of curses at each other, but it was better when she was alive. His wife was always depressed and often sick because she was weak. After adopting Seon-jae against his wife’s wishes, there were many days when they didn’t exchange a single word, but it was much happier when she was alive.

At least she looked after Lee Seok-doo’s well-being, ate meals with him, and slept in the same bed. The sight of his wife’s frail back, stubbornly turning away from Lee Seok-doo as she went to sleep, was vivid in his mind.

Lee Seok-doo fell asleep while thinking of his dead wife. When he opened his eyes, they had just entered the Osan Interchange. It was 3:30 AM, and Director Choi was quietly taking a call with a clean face that showed no signs of sleep.

“Water.”

At Lee Seok-doo’s words, the man in the passenger seat quickly opened a bottle of water and handed it to him.

“Who is it?”

Lee Seok-doo asked after wetting his lips with a sip of water.

“It’s Dae-seong.”

“Did they catch him?”

“Not yet.”

Not yet? It had been two hours, what had they been doing all this time?

Lee Seok-doo frowned deeply and took another sip.

“Where are they?”

“Near Cheongyang.”

“You said Cheongyang two hours ago too, didn’t you?”

“That’s.”

Director Choi paused for a moment, looking troubled, and then said,

“An ambulance with the same license plate appeared.”

“So the guys split up and are moving in two directions.”

“Son of a bitch. What a mess.”

Lee Seok-doo rubbed his forehead with his thumb and forefinger and sighed unhappily.

Right. Jeong Jae-jin wasn’t the type to be caught quietly.

If he was, he wouldn’t have touched Il-gwang in the first place.

“Didn’t they scatter too?”

“I haven’t been able to confirm that yet.”

Tsk. He clicked his tongue and closed the water bottle. The man in the passenger seat quickly reached out and took the water bottle.

“What about the rest besides Cheongyang?”

“They’re moving in the direction of Gyeonggi-do.”

“Gyeonggi-do?”

“Yes.”

One staying in Cheongyang and one in Gyeonggi-do. Seoul was probably their destination.

“Who’s going to Gyeonggi-do?”

“Gyeong-soo is.”

“Is that so? Then we’ll go to Cheongyang.”

“Yes, Chairman.”

There must have been a reason why Kang Dae-seong, Director Choi’s right-hand man, insisted on Cheongyang.

It was an operation with a whopping 300 million won on the line. Officially, the amount on Lee Seon-jae’s head was 300 million won, but Lee Seok-doo had added additional conditions to boost morale within the organization.

He had declared that whoever caught Lee Seon-jae would be given a director position, regardless of their current position or who they worked under. So he told them to just catch him, that the moment they caught him, their lives, which were like a sewer, would suddenly take off, igniting their competitive spirit.

Everyone was burning with ambition to win that competition. They were anxious that other organizations, including the Incheon guys, would catch Lee Seon-jae first. They were probably spying on each other and eavesdropping to catch Lee Seon-jae.

Even in the midst of all that, when Director Choi ordered Kang Dae-seong to chase Jeong Jae-jin, he immediately turned the car around without objecting. He poured all his energy into catching Jeong Jae-jin. He was as trustworthy and upright as Choi Dong-jik. He was a rare guy who valued the orders of the person he followed more than money and fame.

So Lee Seok-doo decided to trust Kang Dae-seong’s intuition.

There was still a long way to go. Cheongyang, why did they have to go to that mountain village? Jeong Jae-jin and Lee Seon-jae both had a knack for making people’s lives complicated.

There was nothing Lee Seok-doo could do in the car. He resented this wasted time, doing nothing. The scenery was obscured by the darkening twilight, and he wasn’t in the mood for idle chatter. He was too alert to fall back asleep. He should have brought a newspaper. He barely managed to endure the boredom by imagining capturing Jeong Jae-jin.

How much farther did they drive like that?

Lee Seok-doo, who had unknowingly dozed off, was jolted awake by the loud ringing of his phone. It was coming from his cell phone in his jacket pocket.

It was just past 5 a.m., and Cheongyang was just around the corner.

Who was the fearless idiot calling at this hour?

As Lee Seok-doo tried to guess the caller’s identity, Director Choi turned to him with a nervous expression.

Lee Seok-doo pressed the answer button with a somewhat sluggish movement. Then, he held the phone to his ear.

“Hello.”

Uncle, it’s me. Seon-jae.

A low but cheerful voice. It was Lee Seon-jae.

Lee Seok-doo’s eyes widened. He swallowed hard.

“Where are you?”

He tried to sound calm, but his voice trembled uncontrollably.

He heard a short laugh over the phone.

That bastard. To laugh at a time like this, he really was crazy.

“You crazy bastard.”

Just figuring that out now?

“Where are you?”

I’m coming to you. Where are you?

Lee Seok-doo hesitated for a moment. Where should he call him to make it easiest to catch that bastard?

Director Choi, having grasped the situation, silently spoke to Lee Seok-doo. “Cheongyang.”

Lee Seok-doo nodded.

Yes, they had to go there.

Killing two birds with one stone, achieving two goals with one action. This time it would be killing three birds with one stone, achieving three goals with one action.

“Cheongyang.”

The call ended as soon as Lee Seok-doo finished speaking.

He would be calling again soon. Until then, he had to cast a tight net to catch Lee Seon-jae, Jeong Jae-jin, and Yoon Ki-beom. If he missed them this time, it was over.

“Dong-jik.”

“Yes, Chairman.”

“Put everything on the line.”

“Yes. We will catch them, no matter what.”

Director Choi replied with a trustworthy tone.

Lee Seok-doo felt the blood rushing through his entire body. He was excited at the thought of catching the three of them and torturing them one by one, savoring the taste of their blood.

He gestured to the guy in the passenger seat and urged, “Let’s hear it again. That Beethoven thing.”

“Yes, Chairman!”

The quick-witted guy turned up the volume.

The majestic Symphony No. 5 filled the car.

First movement, Allegro con brio.

Brisk and lively.

Chapter 179